Risk vs. Reward: Carnivore Interactions

Carnivore interactions are a game of risk and reward, Oregon State research shows coyotes can eat by scavenging cougars’ prey but it’s a risky proposition as coyotes often end up killed by cougars too, a new study of predator interactions by Oregon State University shows.

Researchers in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences also looked at black bears and bobcats and found the interplay within the four-species “guild” of predators defied simplistic description.

Findings, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, challenge the traditional model for carnivore interactions among species: that dominant predators suppress the other ones.